Past, Present, Future?
by SamanthaCarol
Summary: Sam & Joe used to be best friends but had a horrible falling out. 6 years later, they have a second chance. But will old feelings prevent them from moving forward as friends? or will their relationship blossom into something more?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own anyone that you recognize. The WWE and the recognizable people own themselves. I own only my OC and my plot. **

I wanted to hate him. I honestly did. I probably should hate him, due to all the torment he has put me through since we started high school and he joined football. But, no matter what I just couldn't. Because I knew, that deep down, he was still my best friend since age 4 underneath everything else that he had become. It also probably didn't help that I had been in love with him since age 12. I mean, I knew I wasn't extremely pretty, probably due to the fact that I was still chubby, and my breasts had yet to sprout past their 34B stage they seemed to be stuck at. The only thing I really had going for me was the fact that I had a pretty face. Big blue green eyes, plump red lips, lightly tanned skin with a slight dusting of freckles over my nose and my high cheekbones, not to mention the deep auburn hair that was naturally wavy and went to my waist. Thinking about it, I should have been shocked and highly suspicious that after not speaking to me for 4 years he suddenly asked me to senior prom, citing that he and Alanna, his girlfriend of 2 years and the bane of my existence, had broken up. But no, being the idiot and gullible, good person that I am, I agreed.

So I went home, got money from my parents and went and bought a dress. An expensive, corseted deep red one, with matching heels. The day of, I had gone tanning, gotten my nails, makeup and hair done and I sat in the living room, waiting for two hours. Finally, I had realized that he had lied. He was never going to take me to prom, he was pulling the worst prank he had ever pulled on me before in my life. I nearly started crying before my mom came over to me, pulling me into a hug, then pulling back and grabbing my face in her hands, staring me in the eyes.

"Go to prom. Do not let him ruin your night baby girl. Go, enjoy yourself, and show him what he's missing out on, then tell him to fuck off. Come home, pack, and then after graduation next week, go to Miami and start training for your future." She said, a smile on her face. I took a deep breath and nodded.

So I went to prom. I danced with random people, while he and all of his friends looked on with shocked faces. I shockingly enough, and much to Alanna's horror, was voted prom queen. I ignored them, mostly him, the entire night. When prom was over, I walked out to my brand new 2002 Mustang and drove home. The next week at graduation, though, he came up to me.

"Sam, can I talk to you for a second?" He asked. I turned from my conversation and looked up at him, crossing my arms over my chest.

"You wanna talk? Talk." I snapped, glaring at him.

"Listen Sam, I'm so sorry for what I did and how I've been treating you all throughout school, I just… I want us to try to be friends again. I miss you." Joe said. I scoffed, rolling my eyes and looking directly at him.

"Let me tell you something Joe, you were my best friend since the age of 4. We did everything together, you were even my first kiss at age 12. No matter how badly you've treated me these last 4 years, no matter how many names you and your friends called me, I still believed that a small piece of my best friend, the guy that I fell in love with for god knows what reason at age 12, was still somewhere inside of you, no matter how deeply he was hidden. I believed that no matter how mean or cruel you were, you would never do something that would be severely emotionally scarring to me. But you know what? I was being a stupid, naïve little girl because you proved me wrong last week. You asked me to prom, after being my friend for years and knowing how much that night meant to me, and then fucking stood me up. So fuck you, your friends, and anything I ever felt for you. I hate you, Joe Anoa'i. But you know what? After today I'll never have to see you again." I snapped then turned, walking towards where I would be seated for the ceremony.

The next day I was packed and on my way to Miami, where I would start to get in shape for 6 months while working at a local club at night as a bartender. After I got into an extremely good physical shape, suddenly my breasts decided to make their presence known to the world, shooting from a 34B to a 34DD overnight. I had finally gotten a body that every girl back in Pensacola would be envious of, and I had earned it with all of my hard work and my genes. I applied to FCW and a month later I had received my letter of acceptance. I started training with them for 2 years, then did independent and circuit tournaments and shows for the next 3 years, making a surprising amount of friends along the way. Somewhere between graduation and getting accepted to the WWE in early 2008 I had truly found myself, and figured out what I liked and disliked.

I had allowed my hair to stay to my waist, but I had started to dress more provocatively as well as more punk. I had gotten around 40 tattoos in the 6 years since graduation, and gotten venom bites on the bottom right side of my lip, my nose and bellybutton pierced.

I debuted in the WWE at WrestleMania 24 which was in Orlando, Florida. My family, as well as Joe and his family at the invite of my mother much to my annoyance, had all come to support me. I was to run into the ring and intervene in the Playboy BunnyMania Match and help Ashley and Maria win by going after Melina, knocking her out with a starspin (Think of a litasault but going higher and with a vertical 360 air twist.) Then allowing Maria to pin her while Ashley and some girls that were outside the ring holding off Beth.

After the night was over I was backstage changing into a pair of skintight skinny jeans, black heeled shoes with small golden spikes on the toes, and a gold vest that showed enough cleavage to be deemed appropriate and ended right above my bellybutton and contrasted nicely with my tanned skin. I had just finished brushing my hair and starting to put my things away when a stagehand knocked on my locker room door and poked his head in.

"Your family is here." He said. I smiled and stood.

"Let them in." I said before turning and putting most of the rest of my things in my bag as they walked in.

"Oh baby you did so good! I'm so proud of you." My mom gushed, running over and hugging me. She pulled away and looked at my outfit and rolled her eyes.

"Really Samantha, can't you dress a little more appropriately?" She said. I sighed, rolling my eyes at her.

"Mom, I am 24 years old. I can dress how I want, and I like my outfit." I said, stepping around her and hugging my father, then moving onto Joe's parents.

"Oh Sammy, we're so happy for you. I remember when you and Joe were little and you guys would wrestle in the backyard and Dwayne would referee when he was there." Mrs. Anoa'i said, a smile on her face. I gave her a small smile, glancing over to Joe, who was smiling faintly as well at the memory of our shared childhood, before everything became complicated.

As if sensing that we needed to talk in private, my mother cleared her throat then looked at everyone.

"Why don't we head back to the hotel? I'm sure that Sam & Joe would love to catch up a bit without all of our prying ears." She said. I looked over and have her a thankful smile.

"Yeah, I can give Joe a ride, we are all staying at the same hotel after all." I said, looking at him. He nodded in response, his eyes not wavering from mine. I gave everyone hugs with the promise of getting together tomorrow since it was a day off to go to Disney. Once Joe & I were left alone a slightly uncomfortable silence fell over us. He slowly cleared his throat, looking around the room before speaking.

"So, you finally get to live your dream. How does it feel?" He asked, turning finally to look at me. I smiled and shrugged, looking him over. He looked good. Very toned and muscular, surely from football and constant training he was doing.

"It feels amazing Joe. Like… I never thought this would happen, you know? It's such an amazing feeling, knowing that I now work alongside the people we used to watch on TV, the thrill I got tonight, making my debut at WrestleMania, and in my home state of all places… I just, I can't even describe it to you." I said, a smile on my face the entire time. He smiled back, laughing a little bit. He then looked at me.

"You look really good Sam, you look happy too. I'm glad that you're finally doing what you love to do." He said, staring me in the eyes. I gave him a small smile, meeting his gaze before smirking.

"So what about you Mr. I just got drafted to the Edmonton Eskimos." I said, crossing my arms under my chest and smirking at him, jutting a hip out. He laughed, nodding, crossing his arms over his chest, looking at me still.

"Yeah, it'll be a change, that's for sure. I've never been, let alone lived in Canada before." He said. I smiled, nodding. I was about to say something else when someone knocked on the door before it was opened and Ashley poked her head in, looking at both of us before smiling.

"Hey, a bunch of us are going out to Emerald. You coming still?" She asked. I nodded then turned back to Joe.

"Wanna come?" I asked, smiling up at him, tilting my head to the side.

"Sure. What harm can it do." He said, shrugging. I smiled at him and grabbed my bags and my keys then walked to the door, motioning for him to follow. When we got into the hall I looked at Ashley.

"What time is everyone meeting up in the lobby of the hotel?" I asked her.

"Uh… You should have like 25 minutes when you get to your room. Matt got a limo for everyone, that way no one has to drive home." She said. I nodded as we walked outside.

"Alright. See you in 30 then." I said, waving and walking to my rental. I tossed my bags in the back seat and waited for Joe to get settled before pulling out of the parking lot and towards the hotel.

Glancing over at him as we started talking on the way back, I felt a familiar constricting in my chest and mentally cursed myself.

After years of not feeling anything towards this man, after years of convincing myself that I hated him still, I could no longer ignore the obvious feelings that had seemingly awoken in me once more.

'_Fuck.'_ I mentally cursed, swallowing.

I was still in love with him. Great.

**Author's Note: I'm not sure if I should continue this story or not, so please give me honest feedback and tell me what you think. Also, I make no promises on how close updates will be, considering I am a single mother of a 3 month old, and am looking for a job and preparing for school. I will update when I have the time, and if it takes too long in the eyes of you, the readers, please shoot me a message either reminding me or something. Thank you. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own anyone that you recognize. The WWE and the recognizable people own themselves. I only own my OC and my plot. **

As soon as we got to the hotel and I parked my rental, Joe followed me up to my room so I could drop off all of my ring gear. Once I did that I quickly touched up my makeup then we headed down to the lobby to meet up with Ashley, Matt, Jeff, Randy, John, and Trish. After introducing Joe to everyone, we headed over to Emerald. Once we were in the limo and everyone was talking, I started to think and I sighed internally.

I knew that tonight could either ruin any semblance of any sort of relationship rebuilding or forming that Joe and I could have, or it could start it. And to be completely honest, I was nervous. I hadn't seen him in nearly 7 years, and I hadn't been friends with him for almost 12. Looking back on things, especially graduation day, if I would have just accepted his apology and not blown him off, we probably would've tried to re-build our friendship then, but I was too angry and too unwilling to bend on anything to even hear him out.

I was suddenly shaken from my thoughts when Ashley nudged me and then leaned over to whisper in my ear.

"So, Joe keeps staring at you, just letting you know." She said, smirking at me, then going back to her conversation with Matt and Randy.

I looked over at Joe, and sure enough, he was staring at me. As soon as I looked at him our eyes met and he gave me a small smile.

"You okay over there? You look like you're thinking pretty hard about something." He said, smiling and leaning forward so that he didn't have to speak too loudly. I smiled at him and simply shrugged.

"Just thinking about some things. I'm fine." I said, smiling at him. Soon we pulled up to the club and got out, heading in and over to the VIP area that Matt and Randy had secured for us all. I set my purse down on the couch and turned, looking at everyone.

"I'm going to go get something to drink, I'll be back." I said, smiling at them before heading through the dance floor towards the bar.

"Jack & Coke." I said, smiling at the bartender, when suddenly someone spoke from behind me.

"Make that 2." Joe said, leaning next to me against the bar and then turning to face me.

"So, are you really going to tell me what you were thinking about in the limo? It may have been a long time ago that we were close, but I can still read you like an open book." He said, smirking at me. I sighed and laughed dryly, shaking my head slightly.

"Yeah, I forgot that you could read me better than anybody. I just..." I sighed and paused, taking my drink from the bartender and handing him some money before turning back to Joe. "I was just wondering what you were going to say to me the day of graduation. You know, before I cut you off and chewed you out." I said, smiling a little up at him.

He laughed and took a sip of his drink, looking at me the entire time.

"Well for one I was going to finish apologizing for everything I had done to you throughout school, especially for prom. I felt horrible when it happened, you didn't deserve that, no one does. I just… I got all caught up in being the head guy in school I guess. I felt like, no I was told, that I had to prove that you weren't my friend anymore. The sad thing is, is that before I even went to pick up Alanna, I sat in front of your house for almost an hour, contemplating over what I was going to do. I was an idiot and I shouldn't have done it, and if I could go back and change things, then I would." He said, staring me in the eyes. I swallowed, looking back at him, then looking away, nodding.

"Oh." I said, swallowing the rest of my drink before motioning for another from the bartender.

"You know, in the spiel that you gave me, I heard something interesting that I never got to ask you about." He stated. I glanced at him then away again, knowing what he was referring to but deciding to play stupid.

"And what was that?" I asked.

"That you were in love with me. When did that happen? And… why did you never say anything?" He asked, moving a piece of my hair behind my ear.

I let out a shallow breath and looked up at him, to find him staring intently at me.

"I'm not sure when I realized I was in love with you. Probably the beginning of freshman year, but I know it began when we um… shared our first kiss when we were 12. I never told you because by the time I realized it, you and I weren't even speaking anymore, and then you started dating… Morgan? I think that was her name… Anyways, I just didn't see a point, and there never became a right time." I said, shrugging while sipping my drink.

"I wish you would have told me Sam, I…" He started, but was quickly cut off as Ashley walked over, grabbing my arm.

"Hey, someone is over in our area asking for you. Says he's an old friend from Coyote's." She said, causing me to flush. I glanced at Joe and gave him a small smile then looked back to her.

"Okay, lead the way back." I said, motioning her ahead of me, Joe trailing behind.

Once we got into the VIP area I stopped, putting my hands on my hips.

"Matthew Sanders and Brian Haner Jr. as I live and breathe." I said, smiling and laughing as Matt walked over and pulled me up into a huge bear hug. Once he set me down Brian came over and hugged me as well, following it by a kiss on the forehead.

"So, what are you two doing in Orlando?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Make a wish gave us a call and were going to be meeting some kids and taking them to Disney tomorrow. We saw you on WrestleMania tonight and heard through the grapevine that you were here, so we figured we would come say hi." Matt said, smiling down at me. I smiled back at him and was brought back to reality hearing Joe cough. I cleared my throat and looked at everyone.

Guys, this is Matt and Brian, Matt and Brian, this is Joe, Ashley, Trish, Randy, Jeff, Matt and John." I said, pointing to each person as I spoke their name. Everyone nodded at them and I motioned for the guys to sit down.

"So, how did you guys meet Samantha here? And what the hell is Coyote's?" Ashley asked, smirking and leaning forward. I blushed and looked over to Matt and Brian, waiting for them to inevitably explain. I then noticed that they had the entire groups' attention and swallowed.

"Coyote's is a bar in Miami. Think 'Coyote Ugly' the movie, and it's the same, except Miami instead of New York." Brian started, a smirk on his face as he looked over at me. "We were in Miami doing a show and some of the fans that came out told us about it, so we decided to stop by and see what all the hype was about. We walked in, and this one," He said, motioning to me, "was on the bar with three other girls, dancing to 'Pour some sugar on me' by Def Leppard. We started talking and we needed a dancer for our show the next night, she agreed, and we've kept in contact on and off since." He finished, smiling at her.

She nodded and sat back, accepting the answer, much to my relief.

Truth is, after that incident, I had dated Matt for a while, well nearly a year, but with his schedule and mine conflicting and both of us living on opposing sides of the country, we ended things after only 6 months. We promised to stay friends, which we did, up until a year before when he started dating his childhood friend Val, who wanted him to have nothing to do with me. So he cut off all ties, and tonight was the first night I had seen him in almost a year. Once everyone had returned back to their conversations I turned to Matt, not realizing that Joe was listening.

"So, how's Val doing?" I asked.

"I wouldn't know. We broke up a month ago." He said, shrugging. I nodded and pursed my lips.

"I'm sorry Matt." I said, putting my hand on his arm. He simply shrugged.

"It's fine. No real loss there. But anyways, you finally made it! Congrats! I remember you working so hard to get where you are, and not many Divas can say that there introduction to the WWE happened at WrestleMania of all places." He said, smiling at me. I smiled back, nodding.

"Yeah, very true. I'm just… I'm happy you know? I'm finally doing what I've always dreamed of." I said.

The rest of the night was spent talking and catching up with everyone, and while everyone else drove down to Miami the next day to wait until the following Monday for RAW to be filmed, I spent the remainder of mine with Joe and our families at Disney and catching up. Joe and I never got to finish our talk, but I figured that if he deemed it important to tell me, he would so I never pressed the issue.

Both families came to the taping in Miami that Monday to see my official debut, as did Matt, Brian and the rest of their band mates. The next day my family and Joe and his were leaving, and a week later Joe was off to Canada to start training with the NFL. Joe and I kept in contact, re-building our friendship, and after a few years he started training with FCW, then got picked up in the WWE's newest show NXT. He was due to debut for the WWE in late 2012, but refused to tell me how he was debuting or anything pertaining to it, telling me I had to wait to be surprised. Trish retired, Matt left the WWE and Jeff got fired, but was soon picked up by TNA Impact Wrestling, so he and I saw a lot of each other when he was in Florida for filming or training. I had rose quickly in the WWE, retaining the Women's Championship for 2 ½ years after gaining it when Trish retired in a 6 woman battle royal, going up against Lita. Matt and I started dating again a year after seeing him at Emerald, and stayed together for 2 years, until finally calling it quits when I found him cheating with Val. We don't talk anymore, but I keep in touch with the rest of the band, and I'm okay with that. One thing that has never gone away though, no matter how hard I have tried to get it to, is the feelings I have for Joe. Or actually, I should probably call him Roman now, considering he changed it in late 2011 so his ring name was used for everything.

I was nervous about his debut coming up, and I was just hoping that everything went well, as well as hoping that maybe he and I could become closer then we were, and maybe we could have something more finally.

But as everyone knows, things don't always go as hoped or planned. Not right away anyways. And I was about to find that out very, very quickly.

**A/N: Thank you guys for the reviews! I really appreciate it. Keep the reviews coming, and tell me what you think. As I said before, please be patient with me with updating, I have a lot going on but I had to return to writing, I was severely missing it. Feedback is appreciated! **


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